perspiration

Hey all, I've set a hard departure date of April 21st for my cross country bicycle trip. Put in my letter of resignation at work and everything. I figured it would make it easier for me to start one big thread with all my questions and ideas, and keep everything nice and locked up here.

BASIC TRIP DETAILS:

Here's my very, very, very rough map (based loosely around the ACA routes through these areas


Trip length: Giving myself 6 months with a few months extra money/leeway to try and settle down on the West Coast when I get there. I know some people in the Bay Area and am hoping to find a law/paralegal job out there upon arrival.

Budget: For this six month trek, I will have about $9-10k in the bank with credit card as backup.. I'm paying student loans on my trip, which will take around $3750 of that saved amount. That gives me a budget of about $35 a day, which SEEMS like plenty. Could use advice about this.

Major Events: Visiting friends along the way; a lot of the route centers around this plan. There is a convention I plan on attending in Colorado on June 12th, and while I want to try my damnedest to bike there in time, I may have to stash the bike, take the train there, train back, and continue riding. Biking the entire distance westward is a necessity in my mind.

Logistics: To save money, I want to wild camp as much as humanly possible. Sleeping in small town baseball dugouts, behind structures, off into the woods, anything. I could use advice on this state-by-state. Where do I have to worry about bears? How do I keep from getting killed?

I'm taking the train and bus to Maine to begin the trip. I haven't planned the return home yet because I don't know what my life is going to look like when I get out there. I figure that out as I approach.

I'd also like to cook and eat a lot of my own food on the road to save money as well. The trip is important, and enjoying the small things is necessary, but I would also really like to be able to start a life out West when I get there. Could use advice here as well.

QUESTIONS:
1. Does this route actually look like I can make it in 6 months? Is it too long or too short for that timeframe?

2. Does my budget look reasonable? Is $6-7k enough to last on the road for six months, with extra time to find a job?

3. Wild camping--I want to know all about it across the country. Any advice on how I can avoid paying to sleep as much as possible.

4. Routes--Looking mostly at the ACA routes right now but I don't think I can afford all the maps. Any local advice on travel would be great for my giant compendium on my computer.

Anything I'm missing? Things I Should know? Am I worried too much? I think if my budget and timeframe work out alright, everything else is gravy. Many questions to come, thanks for coming along on the ride...

Cyclebum

With discipline, $35/day should be adequate. Try to have some money to spare for on occasional motel room and component replacement.

You don't really need the ACA maps to do this, tho they are great to have for convenient routing, points of interest, suggestion for low cost/no cost camping, hooking up with other x-country tourist. I personally don't use them, but have toured some with a guy who did.

You can do it in 6 months. If you get behind schedule, hitch to catch up. With the right approach, not terribly hard to do. I'm talking about a pickup truck going your way.

Free camping is always doable, even in the east. Does get easier as you move west. Make use of hosts for memorable overnighting with peers.

Do a couple of overnighters to sort out your gear requirements and verify that cycle touring is really your 'thing.'

Digest CGOAB and consider blogging your adventure there.

And don't overthink this..just do it. It'll all work out.

perspiration

I have done a few short tours here around Illinois, so I know I'm going to like it I also read Crazyguy blogs every day at work on breaks to keep myself motivated! Thanks for the answers!

Bezalel

6 months seems long enough to cross the country but at that pace you may risk hitting snow in the Rocky Mountains.

blauger

You'll also be riding the Pacific Coast in Sept/Oct. Sept. is generally ok, but Oct is typically rainy. I think it would be wiser to make it a 5-5.5 month tour to avoid snow in the Rockies and rain on the coast.

boomhauer

Yes.

You can do this trip in 2 1/2 months if you ride everyday. It sounds like you are young.

I did something similar in 1991 with only state maps and little experience. It wasn't that hard to figure out. After the first two weeks it becomes very easy.

hueyhoolihan

did something very similar after college graduation. it took nine months around the perimeter of USA using ACA routes. no problem. lots of wild camping. had enough cash left over to start a life here in California. at first Sacramento, now the East Bay. best decision of my life. i love it out here, after having spent most of my life previously in midwest and east coast. good choice. good ideas. very doable.

you'll probably get soaked starting out in April and may well outrun the good weather. optimum would be departure in May. YMMV, really.

BTW, i dispensed with carrying cooking gear for the trip. having backpacked across the USA north to south previously, in the 80's, i found found food much more widely available than in the past. i didn't regret the decision.

nun

What's this "Bike Club" on you map? First rule...... nobody talks about "Bike Club"

stevepusser

If you are heading west along the ACA route, you'll meet other cyclists coming the other way. They'll usually be only too eager to let you know about what's ahead, good places to camp and eat, what to avoid, and to let you have a peek at their maps.

Avoiding restaurants will really stretch out your food budget. If you don't feel like doing some minimal cooking, sandwiches and fruit will get you a long way. If you do find a cheap campground (like a hike 'n' bike), it's nice to share a campfire with others, and then you can cook some meat, corn on the cob on the grill, potatoes wrapped in foil in the coals, and so on. French bread slathered with garlic butter heats up really nice on the grill, too.....mmmm...drool...

A minimal pop can stove setup also weighs almost nothing, and really is nice for coffee and hot oatmeal on those cold mornings. It'll help keep you out of those expensive restaurants (which are also time-killers).

Edit: I just bought a couple of these motion alarms:

https://www.tmart.com/Motorbike-Alarm...e_p117184.html

and they do work as advertised. Lock your bike, of course, but these would give you a few precious seconds of warning that someone is tampering with your bike, removing or going through your bags, or let you know those dang racoons are going through your panniers at 3 AM again. It would let you sleep better at night, too. Tourists have woken in campgrounds to find bags and bikes silently gone missing in the wee hours. If you are on your own, you will have to leave your bike out of your sight for a minute or two at stores and such, no matter how hard you try to prevent it.

perspiration

Thanks for the responses everyone. The six months isn't a timeframe set in stone--I set it to be "more than enough" and to make sure I overbudgeted both money and time for visiting people.

Another question I forgot, and I know this is varied as heck, is about my bike! I currently have a 2011 Cross Check, and have taken it on short tours but I'm not sure how well it'll do completely loaded. I know people have toured on worse bikes with great success. It still has stock wheels on it, will I definitely want to upgrade to more spokes? Some people have mentioned putting a LHT fork on it to make it more stable, as well. Otherwise I'm looking at possibly picking up a new Novara Safari or something cheaper than a new LHT. Anyone have experience with a similar, maybe more race-y bike than touring bike for a long distance tour?

Cyclebum

if you can ride the x-check for 50 miles/day, day after day, with minimal discomfort, then why not? OTOH, as this is somewhat an epic tour, you deserve the most comfortable ride you can afford and are willing to be seen on. They are not necessarily the same: bent vs DF.

"maybe more race-y". Go with 28 mm tires. Lighter, more responsive than say 32's. I've toured my loaded DF on 25's with no problem.

bikenh

Given the route you are looking at doesn't look all that long...I think you did help to answer my one question. How are you planning on killing 6 months on the trip. At 50 miles a day it won't take you anywhere near 6 months to complete. At least not but my roughly looking at your map. The biggest question is how strong of a rider are you. I mean this from the perspective of what I mentioned above. The stronger you are the more difficult it will be to ONLY ride 50 miles per day. What are you going to do with all the downtime? The stronger the rider you are the faster you will be riding which means the sooner you are going to get the 50 miles per day completed. You're not going to be doing this during the dead of winter when you have limited sunlight. Rather you are looking at spring/summer months with 15 hours each day of sunlight. If you intend on only doing 50 miles a day and you want to spend as little money as possible you are going to have a lot of time to kill. How much money is that going to cost you. Add that into the equation.

lakhotason

Keep your rough route and quit worrying about the rest. It's an adventure not a tour.